Very sweet coming of age movie with an excellent cast; even though it falls into very familiar bullying-and-revenge teen movie tropes... Clifford Peach is a put upon new kid who hires class hulk Ricky Linderman to defend him against class bully Melvin Moody, and his goons... And all is good in the world...The two even unexpectedly become friends..That is, until Moody hires his own bodyguard. And then Clifford also finds out a dark secret about Ricky's past which complicates things even further. And overall this is a very tender human interest story; thanks to the touching performances by stars Chris Makepeace and Adam Baldwin...Who, as the class nerd and the class ogre, have great chemistry...And it's all very enjoyable and audience pleasing...(Even though it frequently gets passed over for film festivals and nostalgia viewing in favor of edgier John Hughes fare; who had a lock on the genre during that era). But it's still a great movie...plus it showcases a lot of hot up-and-coming stars, (Matt Dillon, Joan Cusack, Jennifer Beals and Martin Mull); and cool Chicago locations. I highly recommend this.

Feel good tale of an unconventional high school friendship. Movie pushes all the right emotional buttons, Lots of famous faces in small roles, especially Jennifer Beals.

One of my favorites from 1980. Watched it on cable many times. The movie deserves more attention. The music is great as well.

We’ve all had bullies in our lifetime but the size of our hearts matters more than the size of our muscles A very young Chris Makepeace, Matt Dillon, Adam Baldwin, and Joan Cusack in director Tony Bill’s first effort Clifford lives with his grandma and father who manages a hotel, Clifford then enrolls to a new school in the city but it’s not all smooth sailing as he’s constantly picked on by the bully Moody However his solution comes in the form of a bodyguard named Linderman I love the movies universal theme about confronting bullying. The Chicago setting works to the movie's advantage too. It’s clear not all kids live in the same homogenous middle-class structure and things like bullying can occur in every income and property line. This definitely feels like required viewing for middle schoolers plus it still has plenty of parables for adults. This movie ended up being a more intimate character study which is good that it doesn’t follow typical teen kid cliches. It’s themes too remain relevant today as it did back then particularly when it comes to adolescence. I love how it’s very relatable tackling bullying, depression, and more bravely gun violence. It ends pretty satisfyingly even if abruptly. Still so many that have experienced these kinds of emotional growing pains will take away something that still rings true right now. A trio of well acted youths and a pretty emotionally-heft script make this movie worth remembering.

SOME FILMS GET OVERLOOKED.....AND/OR MISUNDERSTOOD.....My Bodyguard is such a film......I. happened across late tonight when I was working on a project......I needed some background noise.....what I got was a total distraction. A good one. I was surprised when I read the reviews.....It is rare that so many critics get so much wrong. Released in 1980 (when I was 30) I missed it. Maybe I was as cynical as those reviewers in that year but I hope not. The story is a bit of a fairy tale, a fable. Ok, but so what. It is a well done one. The characters feel genuine. The story is very human AND generally believable. It has real heart. I suggest that is worth exploring.

This was one of my most memorable and favorite movies as a child - pre adolescent. It is stuck with me for decades. I just finished watching again at age 53 and still found it very charming and memorable. It definitely had a lasting impression on me and some of the things I went through and around that age. Great nostalgic film- simple but pure and stays with at least me for decades.

I loved this film when I first saw it as a kid and hadn't seen it since then but was delighted to see it was as good as I remember it. It's a well executed drama that I still find myself thinking about days after watching it. A real gem.

Just a great story about high school clicks, with a unique twist.

Cute film with some nice heart.

I have loved this film since it came out. Just rewatched it, and it still holds up.

The film dragged on a bit. The side stories didn't add anything to the movie. The music didn't match the story or scenery. Acting was decent.

80`s Greatness! Seen it about 10 times.

A true classic form 1980!

Timid high school student who is fed up with being bullied decides to hire a muscle bound classmate for protection. It's a matter of time before the two become good friends. This teen drama is sincere and its performances by the teen cast is remarkable.

I hadn't seen this film since I saw it in the theater with my parents back when I was a wee lad. I remember being very fond of it at the time. It hasn't held up quite as much as I would have liked. It has a lot of things going for it. Matt Dillon, just a year after his film debut in "Over the Edge", and Adam Baldwin in his film debut are both excellent. So is much of the supporting cast, in particular Martin Mull as Chris Makepeace's dad. Makepeace I'm not so fond of. I think he's a remarkably weak lead. Ruth Gordon is also not in her best form. I don't think it's her fault. She's got a generic, foul-mouthed granny character to play, and she gamely tries to make it more than the dull character it is. (The less said about John Houseman's brief appearance as an old man with the hots for her the better). The score is simply terrible. Generally speaking, this is a nice, entertaining film that is nowhere near as special as it's critical reception would lead you to believe. It's a kind of refreshing throwback to the late 70's that actually endorses violence in the hands of the right people as a means of solving problems ... and does it in the context of a family film. Joan Cusack, Tim Kazurinsky, Dean Devlin (yes, that Dean Devlin) and an uncredited Jennifer Beals all make their film debuts here. George Wendt also has a tiny part.

Good coming-of-age flick set in Chicago. I had not seen it since I was a teenager myself. So many films in the 1980s cast twenty-something actors as teenagers and were sex comedies, slob comedies (the latter two often intersected) or featured some guy in a hockey goalie mask killing teenagers. My Bodyguard actually captured just how difficult it is finding yourself in high school, on the edge of adulthood, and the fear of being the outsider, the kid who doesn't fit in. This film deals with the unlikely friendship between two outsiders. Chris Makepeace plays a shy, bookish student who has just moved to Chicago and finds his life being made miserable by a group of bullies led by a smarmy Matt Dillon. The picked-upon outsider then engages the services of a feared outsider played by Adam Baldwin to be his bodyguard; Baldwin's hulking character who is rumored to have shot a kid/shot a cop/beat up a teacher/raped a teacher/etc. is feared by all kids in the school, including the bullies but is actually emotionally wounded and just as vulnerable as anyone else. Makepeace and Baldwin's characters bond and become good friends but Dillon seeks out his own champion to challenge Baldwin and our two heroes have to stand up and fight their mutual bullies in the end. The stuff with Martin Mull and Ruth Gordon playing Makepeace's character's father and grandmother seems to have arrived in this movie from some Sitcom. In addition we have an early role by Joan Cusack, a pre-Cheers George Wendt (he was still in Chicago's Second City troupe at the time), and a very pre-Flashdance Jennifer Beals in an un-credited role. Dillon would go on to play more sympathetic characters in several future adaptations of S.E. Hinton novels. More Baldwins (and Cusacks) would appear in future films.

very much a chicago film, filmed all throughout the city, from north side to south side to downtown, and featuring a lot of chicagoans-joan cusack, george wendt, adam baldwin, so i thought that was all very cool, as for the movie itself, its fine, nothing too original or groundbreaking but done well, i enjoyed the relationship that developed between linderman and clifford, and was definitely rooting for them to kick the shit out of matt dillon, who played an asshole very well, and a very nice score by the always talented dave grusin, if you're into chicago movies id definitely recommend it

***Due to the recent RT changes that have basically ruined my past reviews, I mostly only giving a rating rather than a full review.***

The best movie ever shot in Chicago. My favorite coming of age movie of all time!

I've adored this movie since my mom dragged me to see it in theaters when I was little..Still holds up !!